Overview:
Arthur Finkelstein was a political consultant who acted as a strategist for the Republican Party and many other right-wing parties in Canada, Israel, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe.
Finkelstein was born in a Jewish family in New York where he later ran a consulting firm with his brother, Ronald. The consulting firm was focused on polling, strategy, and media. He helped Republicans such as D’Amato, Jesse Helms and George Pataki in their election campaigns, ultimately being invited to help Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s current Prime Minister, raise to power from within the Likud Party.
He died in 2017.
Connections with Israel’s Rightwing Scene
Finkelstein was key a key figure in the 1996 Knesset election which resulted in Netanyahu’s victory against Shimon Peres.1 According to the Times of Israel, “Finkelstein was behind the ‘Peres will divide Jerusalem’ slogan that helped Netanyahu overcome Peres who had been forecast to sweep to power in the wake of the assassination of then-Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin the previous year.
Finkelstein’s contribution to Netanyahu’s victory changed the Israeli political scene to incorporate ever more American-styled aggressive public relations. Finkelstein also worked for other Israeli right-wing politicians such as Avigdor Lieberman2 and Ariel Sharon.3
1: http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9610/10/karl.finkelstein/index.shtml
2: https://www.timesofisrael.com/arthur-finklestein-master-campaign-strategist-dies-at-72/
